


Bring Me Java, Bring Me Joy

by paperairplanesopenwindows



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Author has never worked in a coffee shop and has never lived in NYC but she tried, Corporate nonsense, F/M, Wage theft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26225425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperairplanesopenwindows/pseuds/paperairplanesopenwindows
Summary: Ever since SHIELD Coffee had moved just down the street from the shop that Natasha worked at, Red Room Roast, she and her fellow employees had been struggling.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 18
Kudos: 32
Collections: be_compromised AU Exchange 2020





	Bring Me Java, Bring Me Joy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Huntress79](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/gifts).



> Title taken from "Taylor the Latte Boy" because it was the first coffee related song I could think of when trying to figure out a title. 
> 
> I was having the worst time writing this, but then my roommate helped me with plotting it out, so half of this is her genius. I hope you like this Huntress79!

_ Imagine not paying your employees a living wage. Can’t relate. :)  _

Natasha scowled at the sign outside of SHIELD Coffee and resisted the urge to kick the sign over. Sure, SHIELD had this happy, cheerful, “We’re a wonderful place!” energy, but ever since they’d moved just down the street from the shop that Natasha worked at, Red Room Roast, she and her fellow employees had been struggling. 

She entered Red Room Roast to find it empty once again and Yelena zoned out at the front register. 

“Hey,” Natasha said, as she stepped behind the counter to clock in and Yelena blinked rapidly in surprise. 

“Oh hey,” she said. “Didn’t even see you come in.”

Natasha rolled her eyes a little when Yelena turned away. “What needs to be done?” she asked. 

Yelena sighed. “Nothing, there’s been no one here all morning. I cleaned top to bottom per the corporate mandates and since then there’s been nothing to do.” 

“Alexei been by?” 

Yelena flapped her hand. “He’s still putting out the fires over at the 5th ave location.”

Natasha scowled. They’d been putting out fires at that location for weeks, ever since the manager walked out mid shift and had done an interview about the company’s policies and wage theft. The boycott that had started from that interview still hadn’t let up. She gazed sadly out at the empty dining area. Despite everything, she had taken pride in working at Red Room for as long as she had. She took a stabilizing breath and went towards the back. 

“Let me drop my stuff and then I’ll come help you...I don’t know. With something.” 

She headed to the lockers in the back to drop her bag. Yelena leaned through the door. “Hey Nat! I wanted to ask you—”

“Keep your eyes on the front!” Natasha ordered. 

“I  _ am _ ,” Yelena whined. “There’s no one there anyway. Can you cover my shift this Friday night?” 

“No,” Natasha said, as she unlocked her locker. 

“Why not?” Yelena whined again. 

“I’m busy.” 

Yelena perked up. “Is it with that boy of yours? Are you finally getting to see him?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Natasha replied coolly, even as she snuck one last peek at her phone before putting her bag away. There was a text waiting and her heart leapt as she quickly read it. 

_ From: Clint  _

_ Hope your manager is in! Have a good shift!  _

She smiled before she could stop herself and quickly locked her bag up before she could be caught on her phone by any of the cameras, then headed out to join Yelena in watching over the still empty dining area. 

They cleaned again after an hour passed with no customers. Their assistant manager, Melina, eventually wandered in and excused herself to “do inventory” in the back. Natasha was pretty sure she’d be camped out in the one blind spot on her phone. They did have one customer wander in, order a black coffee, and promptly leave. Even with Yelena and Natasha at their customer service best, they didn’t leave a tip. 

Natasha sagged a little against the counter after the customer left, grateful that none of her managers were around to scold her for leaning. But just as she thought that, the front door opened again, welcoming in not another customer, but her manager, Alexei. 

“You better not be leaning, Natalia,” he called to her as she straightened up as quickly as possible. “How have we been doing today?”

“Just the one customer,” Yelena said. Alexei stopped by the tip jar and Natasha resisted the urge to glare. She knew if it wasn’t empty he would have dipped his fingers in. 

“We’ve done the full corporate clean down twice today already,” Yelena continued. 

“Better do it again,” Alexei commented. “I need you two to look busy.” 

“Yeah, sure,” Yelena said. 

“Is Melina in the back?” 

“Yes,” Natasha said. She moved away from the counter, trying to step into Alexei’s path. “Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment? In private?” 

“Sure,” Alexei said jovially. “We can talk for a minute.” 

They moved into the back and Natasha took the plunge. “You remember...at my year review, you said I could expect a raise?” 

Alexei looked a bit uncomfortable. “I don’t recall—” 

Natasha cut him off. “You said I’d get an extra dollar an hour, starting four weeks ago. On the first of last month. But I noticed it wasn’t applied on my paystub.” 

“Ah.” Alexei still looked uncomfortable. He didn’t say anything and Natasha pressed her lips together as he continued to not speak. 

“I brought a copy of my review and my paystub, if you need to see,” she said, finally. 

“Ah, no. I don’t need to.” Alexei stuttered a little. “Look, Natalia, I’ll be frank. The company has run into financial difficulties due to Mr. Barnes’s actions and unfortunately there’s been a pay and hiring freeze put in place. No one is getting any of their promised raises. I meant to speak to you about that before this, but I haven’t been able to get over to this location with the mess that the 5th ave one has been.” 

“There’s no raises at all then?” Natasha asked, just to be sure she heard correctly. 

Alexei shook his head. “None at all. But if you keep up your same level of work, I’m sure we can set something up for your review next year.” He winked at her in a way that was probably supposed to be cheery, but just looked pained. Natasha gave him a jerky nod and headed back out, leaving him behind. 

Yelena jerked away from the door as it opened, clearly eavesdropping. “Nat?” she asked, hesitantly. 

“Save it,” Natasha muttered, picking up the cleaning supplies so she could start scrubbing the counters again. 

“Ok,” Yelena said, clearly worried. 

Natasha scrubbed the counter harshly until she felt like she wasn’t going to cry anymore and then she set the rag and spray bottle down with a thud. “I might have to take your Friday shift after all,” she said, with a wince. Clint would understand, he’d understood already when she’d had to cancel their first scheduled date when Melina had come down with the flu and there’d been no one to close. She’d hate to cancel again, but that money could be the difference between her eating more than ramen in a couple of weeks. 

Yelena’s eyes widened. “No!” she insisted. “I’ll figure it out. You need to go on your date! I want you to finally meet this boy you’re so excited about.” She slid the cleaning supplies away from Natasha. “Look, just make it through this shift, everything will look better when you’re home in your pajamas with Netflix and your cat.” 

The rest of the shift passed in a blur, Alexei leaving as quickly as he came, Melina never re-emerging from the back. The closer came in and Yelena was able to leave, giving Natasha a hug as she went. Natasha suffered the last few hours in near silence until her shift was over. Only a couple more customers came in and the closer was too grumpy to make much conversation. 

When it finally came time for her to leave, she was instantly greeted by a stream of teenagers, all with little SHIELD branded bags and coffee mugs, heading in the opposite direction of her. Natasha’s worse mood grew, especially when she went to pass the shop and their bragging sign about their livable wage was still out front, not even smudged. 

Without thinking, she yanked SHIELD’s door open and stormed in. 

It was the complete opposite of the Red Room, full of light, painted yellow, and with an airy feeling, a sharp contrast to the Red Room’s dark walls and furnishings. The dining room was full of people either chatting quietly or working on their computers. No one took notice of her as she headed towards the counter. There was a customer ordering and so Natasha hovered in line, looking over the list of speciality drinks.  _ The Calvary, Fury’s Toolbox, FZZT! _ ....the names blended together before her eyes. 

The customer left and the girl behind the counter smiled at her. “Hi! Welcome to SHIELD! How can I help you?” 

“Do you guys actually get paid a living wage or was the sign just for show?” The words tumbled out of Natasha’s mouth before she could stop them. 

The girl paled. “Um, one second,” she said. She hurried over to the door, presumably to the back and Natasha heard her call out, “Coulson! Someone wants to complain about Daisy’s sign!” Whatever she got in response seemed to satisfy her and she headed back over to Natasha. “My manager will be here to speak with you shortly.”

The fight began to drain out of Natasha. “I’m not trying to cause any trouble—” she started to say, but then a familiar looking man stepped out from the back. 

“Hey, Coulson is going to be another minute. Why don’t you go help him, Wanda?” The girl practically ran into the back, while Natasha stared open mouthed at the man. 

“Clint?” she asked, hesitantly. 

“That’s me!” he replied cheerily. 

Natasha inhaled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you worked here. I’m, uh, I’m Natasha. We’ve been texting?” 

His whole face lit up. “Natasha! Wow! This is crazy, how are you?” 

“Oh, uh, could be better.” Natasha winced. “My talk with my manager didn’t go well, I’m not getting my raise.” 

His face fell a little. “Ugh, that sucks.” 

“Yeah, yeah it does.” There was a line starting to form behind her and she stepped to the side, Clint moving along with her. “But you know, Red Room’s been doing pretty bad, it’s not completely unexpected.” 

Clint’s eyes widened. “You work at Red Room Roast? Why didn’t you say so?” 

“Uh, because it’s not the most popular thing in the world right now?” 

The man Natasha assumed must be the manager came out from the back then, and walked over to join them. 

“Hello,” he said, “I’m Coulson. I understand you have a problem with the sign out front?” 

“No—” Natasha started to say, as Clint spoke hurriedly over her. 

“Coulson, this is Natasha, the one I was telling you about? Turns out she works at Red Room down the street, she’s looking for a better job. 

Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. “Clint, we can’t keep doing this.” 

“Oh, come on. You were saying yourself you hoped that the employees could get out.” He turned to Natasha. “We’ve all been following the stuff with Barnes. Mostly because it’s such a trainwreck.” 

“Ah,” was all Natasha could say. 

Coulson sighed. “I can talk to Fury, see if we have something open. Do you actually want to leave your current job?” he asked Natasha pointedly. 

“Do you pay more than $10 an hour?” 

“Yes,” Coulson said. 

“Then I’d be very interested.” 

Coulson gave a little sigh again, but this one seemed more cheerful. “I’ll talk to Fury and see what we can work out.” He took her contact information and headed into the back again. 

Clint turned to Natasha, beaming smile back on his face. “They’ll make something happen for you, I’m sure of it,” he proclaimed. His face turned a little more sheepish. “Are we still on for Friday?” 

“Of course,” Natasha said, “I’ve only been looking forward to it all week. Unless…” 

“Unless what?” 

“Unless you don’t have too much longer left to your shift and you were able to hang out after?” 

Clint chuckled. “I have less than an hour left, actually.” 

“Good. I should probably wait around for Coulson’s answer anyway.” She settled properly into an empty seat at the counter and Clint didn’t stop smiling even as he went to help a new customer. Natasha let out a happy sigh. Better pay, a cheerful atmosphere, and what seemed to be excellent co-workers? Marching into SHIELD might be the best idea she’d had all month. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr at paperairplanesopenwindows if you want to have a front seat to my inevitable freakout when the Black Widow movie comes out.


End file.
